Republic
by Aklaino2k7
Summary: Ezra Bridger survived the Battle of Endor. Now, more than thirty years later his son finds himself on Hosnian Prime not knowing where destiny was about to take him or the repercussions his journey would have on the history of the galaxy. A Next Gen fic with Legends characters around the time of The Force Awakens.
1. Prologue

**Foreword**

A/N: Well, what do you know? I'm writing a Star Wars story and one based on Rebels at that.

To tell you the truth, I didn't start watching Rebels at first until I heard that Darth Vader was going to be on it. Funnily enough, I remember a guy at school commenting that he liked it (of course, he liked some videogames I'd never play, but whatever). So, I ended up buying the first episode, then the first season and I was pretty well hooked on it. True, some episodes have their ups and downs, but it's a pretty good story. Plus, I just got this Star Wars tabletop RPG (Age of Rebellion, if you're interested) and I'm having fun with that. One of the characters in this story is someone I designed for that game.

This fic will be a bit different. After the prologue, the story will skip ahead thirty years to Hosnian Prime where… Well, you know what happens to that planet. The story's a bit of a next generation fic. I won't say much more than that and that a few Legends characters appear as well as a few OCs. Don't be surprised if some of it gets overwritten by canon later on. If it does, I apologize in advance.

 **Prologue**

Ezra knew something was up when he came out of hyperspace with the rest of the fleet, expecting to find an unguarded Death Star and instead meeting up with a large chunk of the Empire's fleet. Almost immediately, he found himself performing barrel-rolls just to avoid getting blown to bits as soon as he dropped out of FTL. A number of his comrades weren't so lucky, disappearing in fiery explosions that were quickly snuffed out by the vacuum.

And they were still tens of thousands of kilometers from Endor.

And the second Death Star.

He continued dodging turbolasers and ship blasters, taking out as many enemy TIE Fighters and Interceptors as he possibly could. The battle seemed to go on forever and much of the news coming through his headset wasn't good.

"The shield is still up!" was one thing he heard through his headset. They were taking out as many enemy ships as possible, but Phoenix Squadron was still dwindling. That shield for the Death Star needed to come down, even if his squadron wasn't part of the group that destroyed it.

They continued fighting, causing TIEs to explode left and right. Ezra was at least glad his A-Wing had a speed advantage, though even he didn't know how long he could keep up. He was at least thankful that some of his Force training was useful for this, even if he could never be a Jedi.

Zeb was in another ship acting as an engineer and Hera was flying the capitol ship for the Admiral running Phoenix Squadron. The Twi'lek woman was more than a little on edge, especially since there was a chance that the Death Star could fire up any minute. She could see the Empire pulling off something like that, even if most intelligence reports indicated that it wasn't anywhere being operational yet.

She glanced over at the Alliance diplomat that was poring over controls. He was human, nearly two meters tall and had black hair including a full beard. In fact, only his neck was shaved.

"This isn't going as well as expected," Hera commented to him, jerking the ship to the right to avoid a rather nasty turbolaser battery coming from a nearby Star Destroyer.

"Oh, definitely not," the captain remarked. "We're getting slaughtered out there. I haven't seen a battle this bad since the Clone Wars."

"You were in the Clone Wars?" the Twi'lek asked, surprised especially since the man behind her didn't look a day over thirty. Of course, his beard and his weight both made him look a little older, but not by much.

Unfortunately, the man's reply was cut off when the worst happened: the Death Star fired on one of the other Capital ships, causing it to explode. "Ma ton kyna! It's operational!" the captain exclaimed, his face filling with dread.

"Still as bad as the Clone Wars?" Hera asked, frightened by the sight of the now-operational battle station.

"No, this is more Battle of Ruusan level," her commanding officer remarked.

The Twi'lek turned the ship to the side, avoiding another volley of cannon fire while the gunners shot at the nearby Star Destroyer, destroying incoming TIEs left and right as it did so and taking out a number of decks on the enemy starship.

"I'm not sure I've heard of that battle. Before the Clone Wars?" she inquired.

All the sudden, the man's eyes widened. "Swerve to the left!"

She did so, not knowing why before figuring it out when the Death Star's superlaser nearly missed them, instead hitting another ship behind them, albeit a much smaller vessel. "How did…"

"Just a hunch since that big hunk of metal was just about to fire," the man remarked. "Now, if you must know, I'm a bit of a historian. Got my PhD in it a long time ago and I was a professor at Republic University during the Clone Wars. The battle of Ruusan was the final battle in the New Sith Wars over a thousand years ago when the remains of the First Republic's military fought against the Sith Brotherhood of Darkness. Most of the Jedi Order was wiped out at that battle."

"Well, then, let's just hope that it doesn't turn out that way for us here," Hera told him, piloting the ship and launching a volley of missiles at another Star Destroyer.

"Sir, we have hull breaches on decks 12 and 13," Commander Arkhan, his hairy Bothan second-in-command informed him.

"Duly noted. Have repair crews working on it on the double!" the admiral ordered, heading back to his seat.

 _Dodge!_ was what went through Ezra's mind as he moved out of the way of yet another burst of turbolaser activity. He did so. He was becoming more and more reliant on the Force during that battle, something which could be good or bad.

He shouldn't use the Force, not after nearly falling to the dark side all those years ago. Still, he might as well take advantage of it since it was keeping him alive, which was more than he could say for a number of his comrades.

Minute after minute ticked by, seeming like hours in his mind, but he plugged away. He needed to get out of the Rebellion. _Just a little bit longer. Remember who's waiting for you on Lothal._

He cleared his head and relied on the Force even more, careful not to let the Dark Side take over. He pushed that darkness out of his mind and shot down as many TIEs as he could.

He glanced at a picture of Sabine and their daughter and kept on going. He was doing this for them.

One more fighter down. Then another.

Then the Death Star exploded outward, but he refused to let that distraction keep him from the task at hand.

That was when he realized he was beginning to channel the Dark Side since he was starting to enjoy the rush of battle, feeling a desire to chase after whatever ships he came across. He pushed that out of his mind, trying his best not to give in. Still, it remained in the back of his mind as he continued fighting.

Then he realized that the enemy ships were beginning to retreat, something unexpected. Still, he wasn't going to let his guard down. The enemy ships were all in disarray and going every which way they could, jumping to hyperspace one by one. At least the ones that could. The remaining TIEs couldn't, lacking hyperdrives, but they were quickly mopped up by the Alliance forces. The ones that weren't surrendered, which was a large number of them.

So, after dealing with a couple of extra die-hards, Ezra made his way to the hangar of the Phoenix Squadron's capital ship.

Afterwards, he went to the celebrations on the surface of Endor. He wondered if the destruction of the Death Star was going to have any environmental repercussions, especially around the location of the shield emitter, but so far nothing had happened yet. The forest was just as lush as ever and the rebels were busy celebrating their latest and greatest victory.

"There you are," he heard Hera say, Zeb standing next to her.

"And here I thought you didn't make it," the Lasat joked, slapping Ezra on the back. The young man had grown up and was now muscular with short hair. He still had his large nose, but he was taller than most of the rest, including Sabine. The rest that survived, that is.

"So, what now?" he asked, curious.

"Well, the Alliance needs to start building its influence some more," Hera informed him. "With the Emperor and Darth Vader out of the way, that should be easier, at least."

"Of course, if you're like me, you probably want a vacation," Zeb commented. "Hey, it's a party! Let's worry about that political crap later!"

Ezra smiled. "Okay, I'll come with you guys in a few minutes."

"Okay, we'll try to save some of the local alcohol for you," Hera told him.

He heaved a sigh of relief as they walked away, joining the rest of the festivities. He wished Hera were there, but the young woman was taking care of their daughter. One of them had to stay behind, and since he was the better pilot, he wasn't it. Still, it made him feel bad and it made Sabine feel bad about not coming along with them.

"Much on your mind you have," Ezra's eyes opened wide as he looked to where the voice was coming from to spot a familiar green alien, though he wasn't very green anymore.

"Yoda…"

"Why yes, forgotten me you haven't," the diminutive alien commented.

"You're a… ghost," the young man remarked.

"Sure, I am," Yoda replied. "Conflicted you are, Ezra Bridger. You used the Force in the battle, but the Dark Side still tempted you."

"You knew about that," Ezra remarked, looking away in shame.

"One with the Force I am," Yoda informed him. "You must not let your fear cloud your judgement. Difficult days lie ahead for there are still dangers that this Galaxy poses, that the Empire poses."

"I realize that," Ezra told him.

"But still you fear," Yoda responded. "Set up the new Jedi order you can."

"Maybe, but I was touched by the Dark Side. What if I fall," the young man asked. "Plus, I have a family now."

"True true," the little alien remarked. "However, one of your children sensitive to the Force will be."

"One of them… my wife's pregnant?" he asked in shock.

"No, not yet," Yoda corrected. "Still, because you won't join the Jedi, dark times are ahead. Of course, they would probably be ahead even if you did. Always in motion the future is, especially when it has been altered."

"It has been altered? What do you mean?"

"That is not for you to know," Yoda informed him. "Still, let it be known that your son will prove powerful with the force and his teacher is here."

Just then the apparition vanished.

 _Teacher?_ Ezra thought. Yoda must have been talking about Luke. Still, there was no way he was going to have his son become a Jedi knight. Not when there was still that risk...

"Well, aren't you in a sour mood," he heard a voice say and he spotted the Admiral who was leading Phoenix Squadron standing in front of him. "We just destroyed the second Death Star. We should be celebrating!"

Ezra shrugged. "I guess."

The captain patted the young man on the back. "You did a good job up there today."

"Uh, thanks," Ezra replied, smiling back.

"I know we still have a lot up ahead, but don't let that get in the way of you having fun."

"Okay, Glaucon, I won't."

Glaucon smiled more widely and Ezra rejoined Zeb, Hera and Chopper along with another familiar face, that of Leia. He was going to enjoy that night whether he liked it or not.


	2. The Awakening

**Chapter 1**

 **The Awakening**

The feeling was like a gust of wind blowing past him or waves coming across him. He didn't know what it was or how it felt this way, but he had never felt anything like it before. Images flew past him, images of dark and light that he couldn't comprehend. A figure in a brown cloak. A masked figure in a black cloak with a red sword of pure energy in his hand. An aged Imperial officer with a moustache on a Star Destroyer going through hyperspace. A woman with long red hair and green eyes.

The truth was that Elkanah Bridger was feeling an awakening in the Force, though he didn't realize that at the time. He woke up from the vision feeling more than a little sweaty, having no idea what had happened. So he got up and turned on the light, thankful that his roommate had dropped out a couple months before so he didn't wake him. He breathed in and out, glancing around his cluttered room, not sure what to do.

So he walked over to his window and pressed a button to open the blinds, letting in Republic City's lights and the sight of Hosnian Prime's many moons.

He glanced at the time: 0325 Republic City Standard Time. There was no way he was getting back to sleep after… that. As it was, he had a hard enough time getting used to the local time after he moved there from Lothal a year earlier. Looking outside, he couldn't even see the stars, a strange change compared to the sky he saw full of them on his homeworld.

So, for the next few hours, he read through his notes on his old holotab. He was only a couple of weeks from midterms, after all. Once he was done with that, he realized he still had some time until his first class, so he got out of his room, grabbed breakfast from the university's cafeteria and watched one of the Republic's latest broadcasts on his holotab.

Interestingly enough, one of his professors had an interview that day.

 _"I think the senate is making a terrible mistake by ignoring Leia Organa's warnings about the First Order,"_ the man said. He looked to be in his early thirties and had a rather thick beard. The man was wearing a robe that looked like it belonged in the later days of the previous Galactic Republic just before the Empire formed. Then again, the professor was a pretty anachronistic man from what Elkanah knew of him.

" _But the Senate Intelligence Committee feels that there is no likelihood that any of the Imperial splinter groups could possibly amass a force powerful enough to destroy the Republic due to the treaties levied against them,"_ the female news reporter said, sporting a black outfit of faux-fur and black leather with a high, pink collar. Her hair was black with a bob on top.

" _That won't stop them,"_ the professor said. _"There are many instances of suppressed nations or splinter groups breaking treaties and building up militaries in the history of the galaxy, many of them later on becoming threats. Plus, there is also the possibility that someone out there could build a superweapon like the Death Star or the Star Forge and use it against the Republic."_

" _But in order to use the Death Star on us, Professor Athanatos, they would have to somehow transport it here and get it past the legion that is posted here, which wouldn't be a small feat."_

" _Still, a Star Forge would be a major threat, since it would result in an automated shipyard, giving them a fleet in a matter of years,"_ Athanatos replied. _"At the same time, though, this is_ General Leia _I'm talking about. You know, hero of the Rebellion? If anything, I think we should take her up on her word on that alone. Even if she turned out to be mistaken, at least we will have made sure."_

The reporter laughed, disbelieving. _"So, what are you suggesting? Building up an Army of the Republic again?"_

" _Exactly, though via draft instead of cloning. We need to be ready just in case. Chancellor Mon Mothma and the others made a horrible mistake when they reduced the army to a mere token protection of the Republic in the years following the battles of Endor and Jakku."_

" _Well, there you have it. Now, is Professor Athanatos a warmonger or is he right? You decide!"_

"Watching the interview with the professor, huh?" a dark-skinned girl asked Elkanah, startling him. She had dark eyes and a broad nose while her hair was tied back into a bun on top. She smiled at him as she sat down at his table.

"Uh, yeah, it's pretty interesting, if you ask me," he replied uneasily. "I think Professor Athanatos makes some pretty good points."

The girl rolled her eyes. "If you ask me, I think he is going a little overboard," she told him. "In fact, I think that building another army is going too far."

"How do you know that?" Elkanah asked. "Like he said, Leia Organa is a hero. The senate is pretty stupid for not doing something about her accusations."

"A war hero with her own private army. If you ask me, _that_ could be dangerous."

Elkanah took in a deep breath. "Yeah right, Yvette. The imperial remnants could still be threats. In case you don't remember, my parents fought in the Galactic Civil War and they could tell you all sorts of crazy stuff about what happened back then."

"I'm sure. Still, it's over and we need to move past it," she responded.

Elkanah nodded. "Maybe. I guess we'll have to wait and see."

"Now, class, what was the name of the Sith Lord who attempted to destroy the force during the battle of Malachor V?" Athanatos asked the group a couple days later. He gave up after several seconds of silence when it was obvious almost no one had actually read the textbook. "Her name was Darth Traya, or Kreia. She was a former Jedi Master who actually trained Revan."

Half the class looked like they were sleeping. Some were even surfing the Holonet on their terminals instead of paying attention. Elkanah, on the other hand, was actually taking notes.

"Anyway, during that time, both the Jedi Order and the First Republic were nearly destroyed. Thankfully, they weren't, or else we wouldn't be here right now." Athanatos grinned as he pressed a button on his remote. "Okay, pop quiz!"

The class groaned. One thing that irked Elkanah about the student body at Republic University on Hosnian Prime was that almost everyone there came from the upper echelons of society and weren't actually there to learn. It was one of those things that made him wish he would have gone to a smaller university like the one on Lothal. Still, he did his best, ignoring the partiers at his school, which actually included his deadbeat former roommate who was probably back on Coruscant by then. He made his way through the quiz and submitted it on his screen.

Athanatos smiled when he noticed that Elkanah had submitted his quiz.

Soon, the class was over and Elkanah gathered his things together. There wasn't much to get since all he had were his holotab and a stylus. On his way out, though, he was stopped by Professor Athanatos. "You did a good job on your quiz, Elkanah."

"Oh, thanks, Professor Athanatos. I try," he replied.

"That's a lot more than most of the class, you know," the professor commented. "You have a bright future ahead of you. What were you thinking of majoring in?"

"Oh, I don't know. Engineering?" the young man replied with a shrug.

Athanatos smiled. "Good for you. Now, you are always welcome to minor in Galactic History if you'd like."

"Thanks. I'll think about it." Elkanah chuckled, not legitimately considering such a move. The man in front of him chuckled a bit. All the sudden, though, Athanatos grabbed ahold of his head and fell to the ground in agony. This made Elkanah panic. "Whoa, what's going on?"

The professor's eyes opened. "Oh no, it's worse than I thought," the man said, getting up, controlling his breathing and trying to be as calm as possible but failing to do so. "We may only have a few hours."

"What's going on, Professor?"  
"I… I just had a force vision, Elkanah," the man told him, grabbing hold of the young man's shoulders. "We need to get off this planet as soon as we can!"

"What?" Elkanah asked in sheer disbelief.

"The First Order just made its move! If you don't have reliable transportation offworld, I'd suggest you follow me. I have a ship." Athanatos was panicking, though he was trying to keep as calm as he possibly could. Still, Elkanah could tell that his professor actually believed what he was saying and due to the breakdown the man just had, there was definitely a trace of truth in what he said.

"I didn't even know you were force sensitive," Elkanah deduced, utterly disturbed.

"Well, I am," he said, moving past his student. The black-haired man started rushing down the hall, followed by Elkanah and the two of them passed by Yvette on the way. The dark-skinned girl saw him chasing after the professor and followed him closely, seeing that he was in a hurry.

"Elkanah! What's going on?" the girl asked, concerned.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you!" Elkanah replied as the two of them continued following Professor Athanatos.

"How can this guy run so fast? He looks like he weighs a hundred and fifty kilograms!" Yvette asked as they passed through the front doors leading to the parking lot.

"Good question," Elkanah responded just as Athanatos slowed down to a halt before taking out a small touchscreen device and pressing it.

"Okay, so are either of you going to tell me what is going on here?" Yvette asked, skeptical. Suddenly, a vehicle floated up from the other side of the parking lot before coming down to where the three. It was a standard, streamlined air speeder and Athanatos got in, followed by Elkanah.

"I'll tell you as soon as you get on," Elkanah told her. "Believe me, you'll want to."

Athanatos was controlling his breathing. From what Elkanah could tell, something seemed to be bubbling up from inside the man, eating away at his sanity. Actually, he could feel it somehow.

Yvette got in, and Athanatos shut the door. "Computer, take this ship to the Bail Organa Spaceport." The man took a deep breath as the air speeder lifted up off the ground and headed for the spaceport. Elkanah glanced outside and noticed that the sun was starting to set over the distant skyscrapers. "Oh, and I would like to create a holographic message."

"To which contacts would you like to send this message?" the computer's voice asked.

"All of them in the Hosnian System." The computer beeped and he started to speak. "I have received word that the First Order is making its move against the New Republic, particularly the Hosnian System. All of you know me well and realize I would never lie to you." He was obviously uncomfortable. "Listen to me. Get off the planet right away. Take the next transport out of system. Neither this planet nor any of its moons are safe, probably not even any of the other planets in the system. Get out. Your lives depend on it. End transmission."

Yvette didn't look at all impressed. "Wait, you're telling me that you believe the First Order is going to attempt to blow up the Hosnian System? Yeah right. There is no way they could possibly get this deep into Republic space without being detected."

"I believe him," Elkanah told her. Suddenly both his and her holotabs beeped.

"Well, what do you know, I got his useless message. Great," the girl complained, rolling her eyes.

"I sent the message to all my friends and former students in the Hosnian System," Athanatos told her. "Believe me, I wouldn't have sent it if I didn't know what was coming."

"You feel some sort of dread through the force, don't you?"

The man looked at Elkanah. "You do too?"

The younger man nodded. "Yeah, and it seems to be getting worse."

"Wait, you actually believe that the professor is a Jedi or something," the girl asked, incredulous.

Elkanah nodded.

"Oh, believe me, I'm no Jedi," Athanatos told her. "I can use the force and I did train with a group of Jedi at one point, but that was a long time ago."

"Right..." the girl said, her eyes narrowing.

"Okay, then, prove me wrong. Come up to space with me," Athanatos suggested.

"Maybe I will," Yvette told him with a smile. "I'm sure this is going to be some sort of prank. I just know it."

Elkanah wasn't so sure. He could definitely feel something building up and it wasn't just coming from Athanatos, either, so he couldn't have been pranking them.

"So, you think you can teach me how to use the force?" Elkanah asked the older man.

"Possibly," Athanatos replied. Just then, the air speeder landed. The group got out of the vehicle and were awed by the ship in front of them.

"Is that…?" Elkanah started to ask, his words failing him.

"It's a Dynamic-class freighter, much like the Ebon Hawk of yore," Athanatos finished for him.

"Wait, so you just happen to have a four-thousand-year-old ship just lying around the spaceport?" Yvette asked, disbelieving.

"No, it's actually a replica. Not to mention, it's way nicer than any of _those_ old rust buckets." Athanatos said, displaying the only show of myrth since he had the vision earlier. The older man pulled out the same clicker device and the ship opened up. He then pressed another button on the device's touch screen and the airspeeder attached itself to the side of the vessel for later use. "Ready to come aboard?" The man's speech had a tint of humor in it, but that was overshadowed by the desire to hurry.

"Sure, I'll come in and see what this thing looks like," Yvette told him. "This better not be a trap or something."

The girl made her way into the ship followed by Elkanah and Athanatos. The younger man had no idea what to expect, and definitely wasn't expecting something so luxurious. "Woah."

"How could you have possibly afforded this thing?" Yvette asked, confused.

"Investments made over the years, careful managing of funds, that sort of thing, not to mention a sizable pension after the Galactic Civil War," the man informed her. "Hey, Zeb! You here?"

The group made their way to the cockpit of the starship where a lone Lasat was lying down in one of the chair sleeping. "Figures. Computer, begin takeoff procedure!"

The ship powered up and the Lasat woke up from his stupor, seeing Athanatos sitting down in his seat. "Glaucon? What are you doing here?" he asked, his thick brogue adding seasoning to his speech.

"We need to get off this planet right now," Glaucon Athanatos replied, pressing a few buttons on the touchscreen apparati in front of him.

"Okay, now I _really_ want to know how you could afford this thing," Yvette said, astounded at the interface.

"Oh please, touchscreens aren't _that_ advanced," Athanatos told her.

"And what kind of name is Glaucon, anyway?" the girl inquired as the ship started liftoff procedures.

"A very old one. It was a somewhat common one on my homeworld before it got devastated," the man replied. "I'd suggest strapping in."

"One step ahead of you, Professor," Elkanah replied, buckled up in the seat behind Athanatos.

"Wait, what's going on?" Zeb asked, confused.

"I felt a disturbance in the force," Glaucon told him.

"Oh great, one of those. The last time I heard someone tell me that, the next thing I knew it came over the Holonet that Alderaan had been destroyed."

Professor Athanatos pressed a few buttons as the ship made its way out of the hangar and into the sky, flying past clouds. Elkanah looked out at the night sky as they went higher and higher, getting to the point where they could see the curve of the planet's surface and its four inhabited moons.

Hosnian Prime was settled in the early years of human spaceflight in the Galaxy and was almost a constant among the various entities that ruled over that region of space over the millennia, from the Kingdom of Coruscant to the three Republics. Now Elkanah felt a growing dread that soon the planet would no longer be in existence.

"I'm detecting a hyperspace disturbance!" Zeb told Glaucon as he went over the information on the touchscreen in front of him.

"I hope we're not too late," Athanatos told him, gritting his teeth and trying his best to endure the onslaught that was battering him as they escaped Hosnian Prime's gravity well.

"Karabast, what's that?" the Lasat asked, looking at what was coming in sheer horror.

"Zeb, can we jump to Hyperspace?" the professor asked, feeling nausea as the hyperspace disturbance approached.

"Wait, I thought we were going to hang around and see what would happen," Yvette complained.

"I just want to make a minijump to the edge of the system, a few dozen standard light-minutes at most," Athanatos informed her, looking out the window. "Ma ton kyna! We have to go now!"

"Alright, alright!" Zeb punched in a number of coordinates. As he did so, Elkanah looked out the nearest viewport to see orange beams of searing plasma come out from beyond the moons, hitting each one in turn.

"Uh, Yvette..." Elkanah mumbled. "Look out the window." The girl looked at where her friend was looking and saw exactly what he indicated. That instantly filled with such horror as she realized what had happened. The First Order was destroying the Hosnian System from beyond Republic space.

Then the _Epignosis_ made the jump to hyperspace.

The hours blurred by, but all Elkanah felt was a numbness that filled his soul. He had barely gotten off Hosnian Prime with his life and he was sure he had lost the few friends he had on that world. He just hoped that it wasn't a long, painful death and that it was instantaneous instead. Of course, he would have preferred that it not happen at all.

From what he could tell, Yvette got it far worse. The girl locked herself up in one of the ship's bathrooms and wouldn't come out. In a lot of ways, he couldn't blame her since her entire family died.

He thought about his own family and what they were going through thinking he had been incinerated in that blast. He needed to contact them. When he reached the bridge, they were still traveling through hyperspace, going many parsecs per hour through the galaxy. Elkanah had no idea where Glaucon wanted to take them, but for now he had no other way to get back home.

"You mind if I… uh, call my mom?" he asked Zeb, who was sitting there in the pilot's seat.

"Sure, go ahead," the Lasat told him. "You know, I didn't think I'd miss Hosnian Prime that much. Too many stuffy aristocrats."

"Neither did I," Elkanah replied, reaching the comm. He typed in a few things on the console, bringing up the sector followed by the planet and then finally typing in the number to his parents' homestead. He hoped that they would be there and he let the device ring them in.

Eventually, someone answered and he was greeted with a high-quality hologram of his mother.

"Hello… Elkanah!" she greeted with surprise.

"Hi, mom," the young man said with a smile.

"You're alive! Your father went to the capital city to try and find out if you made it off of Hosnian Prime in time, but we… we assumed the worst," Sabine told him.

"Sorry to butt into your conversation here, lady, but you look familiar," Zeb said, pushing Elkanah out of the way.

"Zeb? You got my son off of Hosnian Prime?" she asked.

"Well, we had a little help," the Lasat told her.

"It's me, Sabine," she informed Zeb.

"Whoa, no way! You look way different than the last time I saw you," Zeb commented, a look of surprise on his face.

"Time does that to people. It's been thirty years since we served together in the Alliance. Have you turned on the news?"

"No, I haven't," the young man replied. "What's happening?"

"The New Republic is currently in disarray trying to find who is in line for succession to the position of Chancellor," she told him. "In addition, the few senators who _weren't_ on Hosnian Prime at the time of the First Order's attack are having an emergency session on Coruscant inside the old Senate Building. There have also been reports of attacks by the First Order on the edge of the Unknown Regions. They seem to be expanding.

"We're at war, Elkanah."

"As if that wasn't expected. If you tell me, the Republic's been pretty complacent," Elkanah remarked.

"No kidding. Your father and I actually both agreed with General Leia and her Resistance and we've been donating a surplus amount of our money to her every year," Sabine said.

"No way," Elkanah said in surprise. "So, what do you want me to do?"

"Stay out of the fight and stay away from any major Republic world. Also, stay away from the Unknown Regions."

A few days later, Elkanah woke up to sunlight outside his cabin's window. He looked outside to see all sorts of exotic buildings and spaceships flying around while the _Epignosis_ stood still. He had landed somewhere, somewhere with two suns, one small and yellow in the distance and the other large and red.

Over the previous few days, he had looked up any of his friends from Hosnian Prime to see if they survived. He found out that a couple of them had actually listened to Glaucon Athanatos' warning to get offworld and made their way off in a public ship that was touring the outer planets of the Hosnian System. He was thankful for that.

Getting up, he put some clothes on - Glaucon had a few that fit him, surprisingly enough, despite their differences in size and height - and got out of the cabin. He made his way into the mess, or what amounted to a mess on such a small freighter, and found Yvette eating some sort of kids' cereal and drinking caf. The girl had bags under her eyes and was looking more than a little downtrodden.

"How are you feeling?" he asked her, sitting down across from her.

"I… To be honest, I feel like crap," she admitted. "All of my family is gone except my older brother who's in the Republic Navy. Knowing the First Order, he's probably going to die too."

"Don't say that," Elkanah told her, putting her hands in his. "He'll survive and so will you."

"Yeah, but now I'm homeless and on some stupid freighter who knows where," the girl told him.

"Hey, it's really hard. I lost a lot of friends on Hosnian Prime, but remember that they're always going to be with you here," Elkanah said, pointing his finger at her heart.

"Thanks, but I still want to be alone," she told him.

"Okay, no problem. As long as it takes," Elkanah replied, getting up and grabbing breakfast. Just as he sat down again across from Yvette, Glaucon walked in, dressed like an old smuggler instead of a gaudy old diplomat with a gun on his holster and a long cylindrical device on his other hip. He was also wearing a pair of goggles on his head that would protect his eyes from the suns outside.

"Good afternoon, everybody," he greeted the group with a smile before grabbing breakfast of his own. They had just woken up but it was afternoon on the planet they were on.

"Hey, Glaucon, uh, where are we?" Elkanah asked out of curiosity.

"Oh, a distant world called Terminus. I'm here to meet an old contact and information broker," the heavyset man replied, pouring some cereal. "Gotta say, in some ways it's kind of nice being out of the classroom for once, although I _really_ wish it was under better circumstances."

"Don't we all. I never heard of Terminus," the younger man said between bites.

"Yeah, it's pretty far from the Core. Outer Rim territories, Kallea sector. Not too far from the Unknown Regions, unfortunately."

"Wait, did you say it wasn't too far from the Unknown Regions?" Elkanah asked with shock, dropping his spoon.

"Yeah, there are a few dozen systems between here and there. But the First Order attacks are happening more over on the other side, so there shouldn't be anything to worry about." Glaucon smiled. "Besides, space is big! And I mean big! If it weren't for some bizarre hyperspace mumbo jumbo, they shouldn't have even seen the destruction of Hosnian Prime all the way out here for another fifty thousand years."

Elkanah heaved a sigh of relief, though he still had his doubts. He glanced outside the window at the ships coming in, hoping to whatever gods existed that none of them was a Star Destroyer.

A/N: A bit of a note on the terminology in this:

 **The First Republic:** The Old Republic referred to in the Clone Wars cartoon as well as Knights of the Old Republic. Distinct from the Old Republic talked about in A New Hope. Dissolved about a thousand years before the Battle of Yavin. Also, I threw out the whole being around for 25,000 years thing due to it being incredibly unrealistic (heck, in Legends they still had chancellors more than 10,000 years in the past), instead only being formed a little before 5,000 BBY. Legends had some good ideas, that wasn't one of them and now that's not canon so I don't have to use it.

 **The Old Republic:** The Galactic Republic of the prequel trilogy.

I am not going to go into the canon way of how Starkiller Base worked. Let's just say that it was all technobabble and leave it at that. I liked it better when I thought it just sucked some plasma from stars and sent it through hyperspace instead of sucking up _entire_ stars into a world smaller than the moon, somehow keeping the same gravity and sending it through sub-hyperspace. Though, the concept of sub-hyperspace may be used a little later on.

Oh, and that reporter from earlier was totally inspired by the one from Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Just throwing that out there.


	3. Terminus

**Chapter 2**

 **Terminus**

The streets of Terminus were bustling with activity, filled to the brim with sentients, some familiar but others more than a little alien. Glaucon recognized most of the species present as he moved through the crowds, but there were still quite a few he couldn't place. He continued wandering toward the meeting place which was in a tall, white, dome-shaped building.

Upon entering, he was subjected to a quick scan before being allowed in. He had a blaster in his hand, but he preferred not to part with it. Thankfully, the guards let him in anyway. It must have been due to his concealed carrying permit. Then again, they were far from Republic space so everyone probably carried weapons.

Terminus was once part of the Old Republic, though after the Clone Wars, it was slowly and quietly ignored by the rest of the galaxy especially after the political upheaval due to the Galactic Civil War and the formation of the New Republic, it was an independent world, neither Imperial nor Republic. It hadn't even petitioned to join the Republic after the end of the war. The rulers of the distant colony were content being a simple trading partner with the rest of the galaxy, at a crossroads at the end of the Corellian Trade Spine and the Hydian Way.

Of course, the world was the destination of all sorts of scoundrels and outlaws, despite local laws to the contrary. That was one thing Glaucon noticed walking through the seedy, albeit high-end, establishment. There were even a couple Hutts lying about, smoking some controlled substance on hookahs.

"Hey, would you like a good time?" a blue-skinned Twi'lek asked him seductively, interrupting his thoughts as he moved toward the alcove where he was supposed to meet someone. She was wearing a fairly skimpy outfit consisting of black leather that showed off her cleavage.

"No, thank you," Glaucon replied with a smile, moving out of her way, reaching the little alcove and sitting down across from a man with short, graying brown hair and a circular goatee who was reading something off his holotab. "Do they really need to be so upfront about that here?" he asked the man, motioning toward the woman who just propositioned him.

"I know, it gets really annoying, doesn't it? Especially if you're not into aliens." the man asked, looking up from his holotab. "And here I thought you were going to wait until the end of your current semester to meet me."

"Yeah, change of plans. My planet kind of got destroyed under me," the bigger man replied.

"Well, that's been all over the news for the past week," the contact told him.

"Do you know anything about the First Order's weapon, Karrde?" Glaucon inquired.

"Unfortunately, whatever I found out about it was rendered moot when it got destroyed a couple days ago," the contact replied. "And, please, call me Talon. We've known each other long enough."

Glaucon chuckled. "I guess we have. So, it was destroyed?"

"The Resistance took the credit. Apparently it was a superweapon built into an entire planet that sucked up plasma from stars and unleashed it on unsuspecting worlds." Talon Karrde motioned for a waitress to come over. "Care for a drink?"

"Sure, do you have Corellian Brandies here?" Glaucon asked the waitress, a trim Rodian woman.

"Certainly, though beware those are _quite_ expensive," she warned.

"I'll take one, please," the big man responded with a smile.

"And I'll just have some Arkanian Sweet Milk, if you don't mind," Talon added.

"Okay, I'll be right back with your beverages," the Rodian told them, scurrying off.

"Corellian Brandy? I didn't know you had such high tastes," Karrde said with a smile.

"Well, it's something you get a taste for on Hosnian Prime. Or got, I should say," Glaucon replied with unease. "So, what's Mara up to these days?"

"I'm afraid she wasn't feeling well," Karrde responded. "In fact, she is part of what you need to do to pay me."

Glaucon gave him a look, slightly confused by what the information broker just said. "What did you need me to look over?" he asked, just as his brandy showed up. He thanked the waitress and then looked at Karrde again.

"Over the last few years, I've had a hobby, a rather strange hobby at that," Karrde started to say before pulling out a projector. "A number of years ago, while looking through some antiques on Coruscant, I managed to dig up an old piece of technology, extremely old, a part of a map. Unfortunately quite a bit of the data was corrupted, so I spent some time scouring the galaxy for other maps like this and put them together into a cohesive whole." The information broker pressed a button on his projector, creating an image of a galaxy.

"What is this? The galaxy doesn't look like this," Glaucon remarked. The galaxy in question was a barred spiral, although the bars split into smaller arms at the tips.

"That's because it _isn't_ our galaxy," Karrde responded with a smile. "This galaxy map corresponds to another galaxy approximately 30 million light-years away. It is thoroughly mapped in only a small section of it, though."

The information broker pressed a button on the projector and it zoomed into a small section of the galaxy involved, showing a small number of systems. Then he zoomed it in even further to one system consisting of nine large planets: five terrestrial and four gas. The fifth terrestrial world, a superterran, was on the outer edge of the dwarf planets surrounding the others. Then he zoomed in on one of the planets, a terran world with five major continents.

"How is this even possible?" Glaucon asked. "I mean, we've monitored other galaxies from here and even detected some planets, but it's utterly impossible to even zoom in on the planetary systems, much less image the worlds. The only way this map could be accurate is if… if…"

"The people who made these maps came from this other galaxy themselves," Karrde told him, a wry smile coming across his face.

"Exactly! Of course, other than this, there's no evidence that there's even life outside our galaxy and a couple of the dwarf galaxies that surround it."

"Au contraire, Professor, there is plenty of evidence," Karrde corrected. "Aside from multiple maps, there is the case of an incursion by an extragalactic species a number of years ago into the unknown regions that I've heard about through a retired admiral."

"What?" Glaucon asked. "This is news to me."

"Yes, it wasn't very well publicized due to the fact that the Republic has very little contact with the civilization in question: the Chiss."

"Oh, those guys," Athanatos realized.

"You've met the Chiss?" Karrde asked, genuinely surprised himself.

"Yeah, well, I tagged along with this expedition shortly before the Clone Wars along with one of my students at the time. It wasn't a fun trip, I'll just say that. So, I take it you want me to visit the Chiss to find out about these extragalactic invaders they came across all those years ago."

"And here I thought you'd want to do that yourself out of curiosity," Karrde told him, smiling widely.

"Actually, I kind of do, especially since, if someone's capable of traveling across intergalactic distances, they could change the tide of the war against the First Order," Glaucon said, a grin forming on his face as he chuckled a bit. "Of course, there's the problem with the group of passengers I've picked up."

"Just drop them off on the nearest inhabited planet," Karrde said.

"Uh, the nearest inhabited planet is here," the bigger man said. "There's no way I'm going to do that."

"I was just joking, Glaucon," Karrde told him with a smile, leaning forward and sipping his drink. Then the man's eyes widened as he glanced around the side of the table. "Uh-oh."

"I don't like the sound of that," Glaucon said, closing his eyes and using the Force. There were three Stormtroopers and they were heading straight for the booth. He could sense that they were looking for him.

He fingered his blaster, realizing right then and there how out of practice he was with it. He also realized that his lightsaber hadn't had much use in a long time either, probably since before the Clone Wars.

So, he figured that he had to improvise. Once the three First Order Stormtroopers reached his table, he grabbed onto it, not caring that their drinks were still on it, amplified his strength using the Force and swung the table into the trio, knocking them to the ground. Then he made a mad dash toward the nearest door along with Karrde, pushing their way past before the Stormtroopers could get up.

Before they made it outside, Glaucon used the Force to sense whether there were anymore Troopers waiting. There was another trio and Glaucon took his lightsaber, ignited the yellow blade on the device and immediately disarmed all three of them as soon as he made it out. Once that happened, Talon Karrde made quick work of them with a blaster.

"You only disarmed them?" Karrde asked, confused and panting.

"Hey, I don't like to kill and I'd rather only do so as a last resort," the bigger man replied. "You okay?"

"I'm middle aged and out of shape," the information broker responded.

Glaucon grabbed the man's arm and closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath as he did so. "There, I healed your lungs a bit."

"Thanks," Karrde said in gratitude.

"Now, come on! We've got to get off this planet," the bigger man remarked.

"What we should do is split up. I have to secure my ship."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Glaucon asked.

"To be honest, I'm more afraid that you'll get shot on the way than me," Karrde remarked. "Besides, I have bodyguards that should be protecting me. There should be some guarding the _Wild Karrde_ as well."

"Duly noted."

"You should probably check on your passengers as well," the information broker. "Plus, Mara Jade was told to meet you at your ship."

"What about your payment?" Glaucon asked.

"Healing Mara _is_ your payment. If you have to take off with her, feel free to do so. Just don't take her anywhere near Luke Skywalker."

"Hah! What about that Chiss who knows about those extragalactic invaders?" the professor asked as Karrde started to run. That annoyed him.

"He's retired on Naboo, running an art gallery!" the man yelled. "Now goodbye!"

With that, Glaucon started running as well, going through alleyways to avoid any Stormtroopers that showed up. He wasn't a fighter in the first place and only then did he realize how rusty he really was after more than twenty years without conflict.

At least now he had something to do. He grinned as he felt the map in his pocket.

On the _Epignosis_ , Elkanah was keeping himself busy by going through Glaucon's vast repository of datafiles when he heard Yvette shouting.

"Elkanah! Come quick!" Slightly annoyed by the interruption into his reading on the Great Hyperspace War in the early days of the First Republic, the young man ran to where the dark-skinned girl was and looked out the window. "Guess who decided to show up?"

Elkanah saw what she meant. There was now a trio of Stormtroopers walking toward the ship's entrance, weapons drawn.

"Oh great, the bucketheads are here," he muttered in spite.

"So, what are we going to do?"

"Hope they don't try to break into the ship," he muttered. "Unless you've got some combat experience hiding somewhere, there's not much we can do."

The girl grumbled. "These are the people who murdered my family."

"I know," Elkanah told her, walking toward a storage locker and looking at the weapons inside. "You think this might work?"

"What is that?" she asked.

"Looks like some sort of blaster that I haven't seen before," he remarked. The weapon was quite rusty, so he realized it wouldn't work. "He's got to have a blaster that's under five hundred years old somewhere."

He grinned when he found one. "Well, what do you know. Small and compact, and maybe able to…" His speech was interrupted by blaster fire outside and he looked out the window, spotting a female figure with red hair whose face was covered in a crimson scarf. Displayed in front of the woman were the bodies of the three unfortunate Stormtroopers that were standing in between her and the ship, which she promptly stepped over.

"You think we can trust her?" Yvette asked. Elkanah shrugged.

"I'd say we should use the intercom first."

The brunette agreed with a nod and Elkanah pressed a button on the side of the door. "Hello?"

"Good afternoon, I'm here to meet Glaucon Athanatos," the redhead informed them. "And I know this is his ship, so please let me onboard."

"And who are you supposed to be?" Elkanah asked.

"My name is Mara Jade. Glaucon and I have known each other for years."

At that moment, Elkanah wished he knew more about the force. He could feel something coming from her, but he couldn't tell what.

"Alright, when did you and Glaucon first meet?" the young man asked, trying to be cautious.

"A little over twenty years ago through a mutual friend of ours, Talon Karrde introduced us to each other at a party," the woman explained.

"Twenty years ago?" Yvette asked, surprised. "So, Glaucon was a teenager?"

"No, he wasn't. If you don't believe me and Glaucon isn't here, I would suggest getting Zeb," the redhead suggested.

"How about no," Yvette decided.

Elkanah was taken aback by that. "Are you sure we shouldn't go get Zeb? I mean, he'd know if this lady's telling the truth or not."

"So, you're not going to go get Zeb?" Mara asked.

"No, Zeb's asleep and there's no way I'm going into that Lasat's quarters. He smells horrible," the dark-skinned girl replied.

Mara shook her head. "I hate to have to do this, but you gave me no choice. You will go get Zeb."

Yvette's eyes moved toward the screen and she lost her smug expression instantly. "I will go get Zeb." Then she walked away.

"You… you mind-tricked her!" Elkanah determined in shock.

"Hey, she wasn't going to go get the Lasat. I'm sorry, but we're kind of on a tight deadline here with the First Order here and everything," she told him. That was when Elkanah decided that whoever this lady was, she was dangerous, so he looked around that the blaster in his hand, opened the ramp and walked down it, aiming at the woman in front of him.

"Get out of here," he ordered.

"Wow, you're even younger than I thought," Mara commented, before glancing down at the weapon in his hand. "You do realize that's an old projectile weapon and it's probably not loaded, right?"

"Huh?" he asked, confused.

"It's not a blaster. It uses bullets," she elaborated. "Wow, Glaucon really does keep old junk just lying around."

"Okay, lady, why'd you need to get me up from my nap?" Elkanah turned around to spot Zeb following Yvette. "Oh, hey Mara!"

"There, now you have someone who knows me," Mara Jade remarked. "Can you please let me onto the ship? Glaucon's supposed to heal me as a part of his payment to Karrde."

"Oh, right away, come onboard!" Zeb exclaimed, motioning for the middle-aged redhead to follow him in. Elkanah figured he wouldn't argue with that. "So, how've you been, Red?"

"I've been better," Mara Jade commented, sitting down in the lounge.

Elkanah whispered into Yvette's ear. "You do realize that lady just performed a Jedi Mind Trick on you, right?"

"Huh? Oh…" the dark-skinned girl said, realizing what had just happened to her and looking at the woman that they let in in spite. "I can't believe…" But her complaining would have to wait. Just then as she was about to open her mouth to tell Mara Jade what she thought of her, blaster fire could be heard from outside the ramp.

More First Order Stormtroopers were on their way.

Glaucon ran through the alleys and rooftops, using the force to amplify his jumping and stealth as he did so. Soon, he reached the spaceport where the _Epignosis_ was parked and he rushed past numerous other ships of varying models. He glanced over and saw a First Order shuttle nearby, something that couldn't have been good. He wondered if the black, winged monstrosity was potentially the property of a Knight of Ren or just belonged to some random diplomat. He didn't like the idea of either scenario, the the former was the worse.

Eventually he reached the line of ships where his ship was located and ran. He spotted the _Epignosis_ sitting there. _Good, I'm close,_ he thought, grinning as he made his way there.

Unfortunately, just as he reached the ship's parking spot, he spotted another group of Stormtroopers marching down the alleyway, wiping the smile straight off his face. In the middle of the group was a figure with a black hood and mask. He wondered if the Knight of Ren moving toward him was Kylo Ren, but only for a second as he noticed that the figure was shorter and the mask looked distinctly like that belonging to Darth Revan himself. That and the figure had noticeable breasts and hips, showing that he didn't guess her gender right.

It was obvious that the Stormtroopers had seen him since they started opening fire. Glaucon instinctively ignited his lightsaber and attempted to deflect their shots as he ran toward the hangar his ship was in, but he only got a couple of them, getting shot in his right arm at the same time. He was more than a little out of practice. The troopers even managed to hit him in the arm as he ran into the hangar and straight for the ship. "Start up the engines! We've got a whole battalion after us!" he yelled out as he made his way up the ramp and shut it.

"Way ahead of you!" Zeb exclaimed, flipping a few switches and igniting the ship's generators. The others glanced out the viewports and spotted the platoon of Stormtroopers entering their hangar along with the female Knight of Ren who was looking upwards at the craft as it lifted off before holding out her hands.

Glaucon concentrated as well, using the force and ignoring the painful burn that one of those troopers gave him. He was doing his best to block the mysterious woman's telekinesis and he was succeeding. It helped that telekinesis was one of the skills he had actually kept up on through the years since it was so handy to use.

In addition, he had some help from Mara. Combined, their skills, scant though they may have been, managed to keep the Knight of Ren from keeping the _Epignosis_ grounded and they were off into space.

"Bad news! I'm picking up a Star Destroyer coming at us. Actually, make that two!" Zeb exclaimed. "Getting a transmission…"

" _This is the starship_ Terminator _!_ _You are to surrender and be boarded,"_ the captain of the larger Star Destroyer of the two ordered. It was a Resurgent-class and it was sending out a number of TIE Fighters. The second Star Destroyer, a far smaller Imperial-class ship coming from the opposite direction, was also sending out TIEs.

"Karabast, they just have to do that, don't they?" the Lasat grumbled.

Much to their surprise, the TIEs from the second Star Destroyer started attacking the ones from the first and the Imperial-class started opening fire on the _Terminator._

"The second group must not be First Order then," Mara deduced, silently thankful that they weren't trying to take the _Epignosis_ as well, though she wasn't going to take her chances.

"Yeah, I'm not waiting around to find out," Glaucon commented.

Yvette was looking at a display. "According to the display, the second Star Destroyer is the Imperial Star Ship Hydra."

"I wonder what it's doing all the way out here," Elkanah mused, looking out at the other ship. "Isn't the other Imperial Remnant over on the other side of the Galaxy?"

"Yeah, it is," Glaucon informed him, sitting down in one of the seats. "I guess they do go to nonaligned space to trade, though."

"You mind if I try piloting this thing?" Yvette asked the group.

"You sure you can do that?" Glaucon asked. "This is my ship, so you better not wreck it."

The girl smiled and sat down, grabbing ahold of the handle.

"I'll head over to the turrets," Elkanah volunteered, heading into the direction of the nearest ladder.

"No need! We're almost out of the gravity well!" Zeb exclaimed.

"Okay, I'm typing in hyperspace coordinates right now," Yvette informed everyone. "Engaging hyperdrive in 3… 2… 1… now!" she pulled a lever and starlines appeared across the viewscreen.

They made the jump.

"Okay, are you going to at least tell me what coordinates you entered?" Glaucon asked.

"Oh, I just figured that Elkanah would like to go to Lothal, that's all," she informed the bigger man. "Now, as for you, lady," she started to say to Mara, injecting her voice with as much vitriol and venom as she could muster. "Don't you dare perform a mind-trick on me ever again."

"I shouldn't need to," Mara responded, a smirk appearing underneath her scarf. "I guess you can just take me to Myrkr after Lothal."

"Sounds like an idea, though we also have to go to Naboo as well," Glaucon informed her. "I think that's on the way there."

"I'm fine with that," the redhead replied. "I just hope that Talon got out alive."

"Knowing him, he probably beat us out of the system," the big man remarked with a grin. It was then that he remembered that he had been shot in the arm, so he concentrated on it, removing and replacing the damaged tissue with a grimace on his face. "So, what exactly is it you wanted from me, Mara?"

"I would prefer to tell you in secret," she informed him.

"Okay, I can take you to my quarters," he told her, leading the way as she got up.

"So, who is that Mara lady anyway?" Yvette asked once the woman was out of earshot.

"Mara Jade, former Emperor's Hand and second-in-command of the Smuggler's Alliance," Zeb told them.

"She's a smuggler," Elkanah said, slightly weirded out by being in the presence of someone involved in acts of questionable legality.

Glaucon led Mara into his quarters. "So, what's up?"

The redhead removed her scarf, revealing the severe burn damage she had suffered a number of years before. "This. I didn't get it treated in time and I was hoping you'd be able to restore it for me. In addition, I have a number of tumors inside my body as well that I haven't been able to get treated because I was so busy."  
"Ouch," the man commented with a grimace.

"Plus, I would like you to rejuvenate me," Mara requested, sitting on Glaucon's bed.

"I can do that, though you need to avoid telling anybody that I can," he warned her.

"Don't worry, I will. Maybe once you're done, you can teach that skill to me as well," she suggested.

"Only if you can give me more info on the map," he informed her. "Lay down horizontally on the bed. It could take awhile."

The redhead obliged and he stood over her. "Do you remember how to put yourself into a Force trance?"

"More or less," she told him. "I sometimes do that when I have a hard time sleeping."

"What could be causing that?" Glaucon asked.

"I've been receiving these odd Force visions," she told him. "In some of them there is this powerful alien race invading the galaxy, laying waste to thousands of worlds."

"I hope that it's not a vision of the future or something," Glaucon responded.

"I'm pretty sure it's not since in the visions I'm married to Luke Skywalker," she informed him.

"Yeah, that's never going to happen," he told her, inwardly chuckling. "Sorry, I just think it's a little funny, since you hate him so much."

"My hate for him has cooled over the years," she told the man smoothly.

"Okay, now, I'll need you to put yourself into a trance," Glaucon ordered and Mara obliged, using the Force to slip out of consciousness. She also numbed herself to whatever pain she was feeling. Before she knew it, it was all over and she was awake again, looking up at the former professor. She got up and looked at herself in his bathroom mirror. She was looking twenty-five again and she smiled at the image that was reflected at her. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet. We still need to get you to Myrkr," he replied with a smile. "So, you mentioned a race of extragalactic aliens invading the galaxy in your visions. You don't think they're behind the maps, do you?"

"No," she replied. "The aliens from my visions detested non-organic technology. Unfortunately, I don't know much about them. The Chiss would probably be able to tell you. Perhaps there was a faction of them that didn't completely reject technology."

Glaucon nodded. "I'll keep that in mind once we get to Naboo."

Yvette glanced at the controls as they flew through hyperpace. It was going to be a while until they reached Lothal, so she figured she'd use the opportunity to learn a few things about the ship they were on and possibly run a few simulations.

"So, what do you think Mara wanted from the Professor?" Elkanah asked the girl, who gave him a shrug.

"You know what sometimes happens when a man and a woman are alone together in a bedroom?" she joked.

Elkanah didn't believe her for a second. "Right… No, really?"

"He's probably performing some fancy healing on the lady or something," Zeb informed them, fixing something around the corner from them. "It's something he can do."

"Right, I accept that he was a Jedi, but healing? Come on!" Yvette exclaimed.

"You're just being a skeptic, aren't you?" Elkanah commented.

"Okay, maybe I _am_ going a little overboard, especially since I just saw my planet get destroyed less than a week ago," she admitted. "Still, there have to be limits, concrete scientific limits to what the Jedi can do."

"You know there are a lot more groups out there than the Jedi, right?" Glaucon interrupted, showing up with Mara. "As it is, I only trained as a Padawan until they found out how old I really was and decided to kick me out. Jerk move, those Jedi."

"You were only a Padawan?" Elkanah asked.

"Yeah, they decided to lower the age to thirteen and under just after I finished my basic training. Then a few years later they lowered it even further. Those Jedi were pretty paranoid about turning to the dark side, I tell you, so they went to pretty extreme lengths to prevent members of the order from doing that."

"So, what are you?" Elkanah inquired.

"Not really anything," Glaucon replied, sitting down. "The order I belonged to was wiped out a long time ago, before the Jedi, at any rate. As it is, there were a lot of ancient Force Orders over the millennia such as the Sith, the Knights of Ren, the Scholars of Fos, the Nightsisters and the Prophets of the Dark Side. Trust me, a lot! Most of them were hunted down by the Empire if they weren't loyal to the Emperor. There were also many who were wiped out long before Palpatine took power."

"Interesting," Elkanah commented. "So, when are you going to teach me the ways of the Force?"

"I can start anytime," the bigger man replied. "As it is, I need a lot of practice of my own. I couldn't even deflect any of those Stormtroopers' blaster bolts with my lightsaber. I guess we could start out with that."

"This I've got to see," Yvette remarked with a grin as the two men got up.

"Maybe you could teach me some more as well?" Mara Jade suggested. "I mean, it's been a few years since I've practiced with a lightsaber."

Glaucon smiled. "The more the merrier."

"By the way, Ms. Jade, you better not try to mind trick me again," the dark-skinned girl told her with a glare.

Mara smirked. "Maybe if you'd have gotten an adult, then I wouldn't have had to," the redhead shot back sardonically.

"Oh please, I'm nineteen! I'm not _that_ young. Plus Elkanah's twenty-two."

"You could have fooled me," the redhead replied, walking off. Yvette still glared as the woman left the room and then went back to running simulations.

She walked along the long walkway to where the projector was and knelt, waiting as a large image of Supreme Leader Snoke appeared in front of her.

"I was unsuccessful," she admitted, looking up at the projection of her master on his throne. "It turned out that Athanatos is still strong with the force even after many years of neglecting his abilities and he now has the map."

"Is that so?" Snoke asked amused.

"And we were also prevented from capturing them by members of one of the other remnants of the Empire," the Knight of Ren informed him. "Do you think they know who he is?"

"It could be, though _ho Mathetés_ has been able to prevent the denizens of the Galaxy from finding out who he was for centuries," the Supreme Leader remarked. "However, there is a possibility they have found out. Could you find out which remnant these imperials were from?"

"I have no way of knowing. The Star Destroyer immediately gathered its TIEs and left as soon as the _Epignosis_ made a jump to lightspeed."

"Then continue to keep an eye out for them, Ponera Ren," Snoke ordered. "I look forward to having _ho Mathetés_ in my grasp."

"Yes, Supreme Leader," the Knight of Ren responded and the hologram shut off. Now she had her mission and she was going to accomplish it. She looked forward to capturing Athanatos and who he had with him. Perhaps the man had an apprentice, one she could convert to the Knights of Ren.


	4. Lothal

**Chapter 3**

 **Lothal**

"Okay, so it's now your turn," Glaucon said, handing his lightsaber over to Elkanah. There was a training remote in front of him, a floating ball with grooves on the sides designed to test whether he could block blaster bolts or not, and the older man had already gone through a round himself, for better or for worse. Glaucon had actually been shot several times by the annoying little ball, but he continued training until he started to actually deflect the blaster bolts coming from the thing.

Now it was Elkanah's turn and he wasn't looking forward to it. With a bit of trepidation, he ignited the yellow blade of the lightsaber and took a deep breath as the training remote started shooting blasts at him. He tried but failed to actually hit any of those blaster shots with his lightsaber. And he tried some more until he was more than a little fed up with it.

"I give up," he told Glaucon, turning off the lightsaber and handing it back to his teacher.

"You give up?" Glaucon asked, not too surprised but more than a little disappointed. "These things take time, young man."

"Yeah, maybe a lot more time than I have," Elkanah responded, pressing a button on the wall-mounted comm unit. "Any idea on the ETA to Lothal, Yvette?" he asked.

"We're about two hours out," she told him.

"Okay, thanks," he said, shutting off the comm. "So, I guess that's it, unless you have something else we could do that won't cause me a bunch of pain."

Glaucon chuckled. "I have something in mind. Just come with me."

"Okay, I know that look. How come I get the feeling I'm not going to like what you have planned," Elkanah asked as they walked past Mara Jade.

"So, you're doing some training, huh?" she asked, curious.

"Yeah, you're welcome to come with us if you'd like," the big man offered.

"Maybe later," the redhead replied. "I've got to get upstairs to make sure that Yvette doesn't crash the ship or something."

"I'm flying this thing just fine!" the girl shouted from the pilot's chair.

"Then I guess I'll just practice my aim a bit in your shooting gallery," she said, heading into the other room.

"Okay, see you later," Glaucon said and he headed to his quarters with his student. "First things first, if you would please sit down on my bed in a lotus position," he ordered Elkanah.

"Uh, okay, you mean that cross-legged position, right?" Elkanah asked, walking over to the bed and feeling its soft, brown felt.

"Yes, that's the one," Glaucon said, shutting the door behind him and then sitting down next to Elkanah, crossing his legs as well, though it took him just a little bit more effort.

"This kind of hurts," Elkanah commented.

"You'll get used to it. Plus, I'll teach you how to suppress pain one of these days so it shouldn't matter too much when we get to that." Glaucon smiled and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath.

 _Assuming I don't decide to stay on Lothal with my parents or something,_ the younger man thought, glancing over at Glaucon and seeing the man's smile change to a neutral expression. "Okay, now what?"

"Close your eyes, breath in and breath out," the man commanded.

 _How could he tell my eyes were open?_ Elkanah pondered, doing as his teacher said.

"Now, try to sense what's in the room. Where is my nightstand?" the older man asked.

"Behind me and to the right or to the left," Elkanah said.

"Yes, there are two of them. How about the chair that I have where is that?" Glaucon asked and Elkanah felt the room using his senses. He then realized where the chair was.

"It's in front of me to the left, almost by the bathroom."

Glaucon nodded and Elkanah could sense that. It was the strangest thing. He was starting to get it and he didn't have to use his eyes to do so either.

"What's on the chair?" the man inquired.

There was indeed something on the chair and Elkanah felt that too. It was a sort of spherical object and the young man was figuring out how large it was. He also noticed the contours along the outside and even noticed the coloration of the ball. "It's a grav-ball," he told Glaucon, familiar with the object from playing on his high school team.

Glaucon smiled again. "Sounds like you're getting the hang of it. Now, try picking up the ball with your mind," he ordered.

Elkanah extended his arm toward the direction of the grav-ball and attempted to move it. It didn't work. He then tried again and he seemed to push it a little, but only about a centimeter or so.

"Okay, it's still not working."

"You give up too easily, kid," Glaucon told him. "Keep trying, say, fifty times."

"Fifty times?" Elkanah asked, confused, opening his eyes look at his teacher.

"Try it once, count to one, then as second time and two and so on," Glaucon suggested. "Some things require rote and this is no exception. You'll get the hang of it. I did and I was a bit older than you are at the time."

Elkanah huffed, but he would do it, even if it felt like that one time he got in trouble as a kid and had to write a sentence out on the board fifty times. So he worked at it, continuing to press against the ball with his mind, pushing more and more. Sometimes he'd fail and sometimes he'd succeed in pushing it another centimeter.

Then, at about the forty-first time, he pushed it a little bit too hard, causing it to head straight into Glaucon's mirror. Thankfully, it had a finish on it that prevented it from being broken, but the very thought of destroying some of his host's property was more than enough to cause the young man to apologize profusely.

"Hey, you didn't break anything. Look, it landed into my shower area, even," the bigger man remarked with a bit of a grin, standing in front of the sink and at the entrance to the large shower that he had installed in the ship. "Just be a bit more careful next time, that is all."

Elkanah sighed. "Oh, okay, that's good to hear."

Then the comm went off. "Attention all passengers," Yvette said, rather cheesily too, "We are currently entering Lothal space and will be landing shortly. Thank you for flying Yvette Spacelines."

Elkanah immediately brought his palm to his forehead. "Not that joke again."

Glaucon just chuckled a bit. "Hey, don't sweat it. She's having fun. You kids take things too seriously sometimes."

"I guess we should get strapped in, then," the younger man suggested.

"It doesn't matter too much. You still have nine more tries, remember?" Glaucon asked, putting the ball down on the chair.

"Maybe some other time," he said, downtrodden and walking out of the older man's quarters.

Yvette looked out the window as the ship landed right by the homestead where Elkanah's parents lived. She felt a bit of jealousy looking across the grassy fields, realizing that Elkanah actually had a homeworld whereas she didn't. She wondered if he was going to leave the group there and what that meant for her. She figured that if he did that, she would too, staying with her friend and his parents, assuming they'd let her. At the same time, there was another realization that dawned on her as she touched down. She would be bored out of her mind there outside of a giant city like where she grew up.

"Yeah, there it is, just as I left it," Elkanah commented with a smile, startling her as she touched down on the grass next to the house, a rather nice-looking building that wouldn't look out of place on Tatooine.

The hatch opened and Yvette followed Elkanah out along with Zeb.

"You know, it's crazy to think that I lived here once," the Lasat commented. "I was actually kind of glad when Darth Vader came and kicked us off the planet."

"You met Darth Vader?" Elkanah asked in surprise as he stepped into the grass.

"It wasn't as great as it sounds. It was actually really frightening, you know. He just about gave everyone a run for their money… and lives." Zeb gritted his teeth at such a memory.

"So, was this before or after you met my parents?" Elkanah asked out of curiosity. He stopped and looked back at the ship. It was taking a while for Glaucon and Mara to get off.

"Oh, after. I'd known your mother for a couple of years at that point and your dad had just joined us a few months before," the Lasat answered. Mara came walking down the ramp followed by Glaucon who was dressed casually. Elkanah figured that since the man was now a professor emeritus that he didn't feel like dressing as formally as he did at the university anymore.

"How about Glaucon? When'd you meet him?" the Lothal native asked.

"Way after that. He showed up when the Ghost was in for repairs just after the destruction of Alderaan."

"Wait, how many years before the destruction of Alderaan did you meet my dad?" Elkanah asked, confused.

"About five," Zeb told him. "Your dad was about to turn fifteen."

Elkanah nodded, about to open up his front door. He made his way inside and started calling for his parents. "Hey, mom, dad! You home?"

Quickly, his mother came out of the back, her white apron covered in paint. Even after all those years, she still spent many hours working on her artwork, even though she had moved on from graffiti to paintings. She immediately went over to her son and hugged him tightly. "You made it!"

Elkanah quickly gave in and returned the hug. "I love you."

"After everything, I'm just glad you made it home safe," the middle-aged woman responded with a smile and tears coming down her face. "So, who are your friends. Other than Zeb, of course."

"Of course, you remember me," the Lasat said with a grin.

"You wouldn't let me or Ezra forget."

"This is Yvette Sella," Elkanah told her, introducing the girl.

"It's very nice to meet you, Mrs. Bridger," Yvette greeted with a smile and a handshake.

"It's great to meet you too. I'm glad at least some of Elkanah's friends made it off of Hosnian Prime," Sabine said.

Yvette gave the woman an uneasy chuckle as her face became slowly downtrodden. "I'm glad too."

"Oh, and this is Mara," Elkanah said, indicating the red-haired woman at the door.

"Pleased to meet you," Mara Jade responded.

"Wow, you're gorgeous. Are you the one who got Elkanah offworld?" Sabine asked.

"Oh, no, I met him at Terminus," she admitted. "The honor of getting him off of Hosnian Prime goes to Glaucon, wherever he is."

"Hey, where'd he go?" Elkanah asked, confused about what had happened to his former professor.

"Wait, Glaucon Athanatos?" Sabine asked, surprised.

"Yeah, that would be me," the big man said, coming from around the corner, somewhat bashful. "I just noticed there's a bit of a leak coming from one of your cooling shafts."

"Oh, that. Elkanah, I've been meaning to get your father to replace that stupid thing, but he just hasn't gotten around to doing it. And Glaucon, you haven't aged a day. What's your secret?"

"It's a long story and the actual methods have been lost ever since my homeworld got bombarded," he replied simply.

"Oh, I hear you. Lothal almost got destroyed by the empire itself," Sabine said. "Still, it's great to see you, even if you can't make me twenty years younger."

"I can, but I'd rather not broadcast that. Plus, it tends to take a lot out of me." The bearded man scratched the back of his neck, slightly uncomfortable at the thought.

"Hey, you did it to me," Mara told him. "I'm sure you can do it to them too."

"Trust me, I've had people try and hunt me down because of it."

Sabine noticed his discomfort. "Why are we standing around like this. Come on in and sit down. I'll even turn on the projector. I hear they're electing a new chancellor."

The group obliged and sat around the living room as Elkanah's mother turned on the holoprojector. However, instead of getting coverage of the elections, they got an interview involving the same exact reporter that had interviewed Glaucon shortly before the destruction of Hosnian Prime.

"How in the Galaxy is she still alive?" he asked before noticing that nobody else really cared. Instead, they were looking at who she was interviewing: an Imperial Grand Admiral in white regalia.

"Wait, him?" Elkanah asked, surprised at seeing the man with the moustache.

"What is it about old Pelly that you know?" Mara asked, curious.

"I just remember seeing him in a dream…" Elkanah admitted.

"So, why are they even interviewing this guy anyway?" Yvette asked with spite.

Sabine grabbed the remote and rewound the interview to the beginning.

"Hello, this is Elaina Corran speaking and today we have a special guest, Grand Admiral Gilad Pellaeon of the Imperial Remnant. Now, Admiral, what are your thoughts on the recent destruction of Hosnian Prime."

"I am greatly grieved that the First Order would stoop to such a low level," the man said, seemingly sincere. "In fact, in their hour of need, I have proposed that we give a number of supplies to the Republic, free of charge."

"Oh please, this guy obviously supports the First Order!" Sabine said angrily.

"So, you don't approve of the First Order's strategy?"

"No, absolutely not. My empire is a new empire, a different empire from the one my predecessors ruled over," the man explained. "We have kept to the agreements of the Galactic Concordat and disarmed, not training Stormtroopers and only keeping a token defense force for dealing with space pirates and the like. In fact, we see no reason to retaliate against the Republic at this time since we are prospering in other ways. We have also left behind the xenophobia and racism that Emperor Palpatine and the First Order both espoused."

"So, you think this guy's telling the truth?" Yvette asked everyone in the room.

"Uh, how about no?" Zeb said in response. "I don't trust this bloke one bit."

"I don't think any of us do," Glaucon said for the entire group.

"So, where's Dad at?" Elkanah asked Sabine.

"He's still at work but he should be here soon," the middle-aged woman answered, sighing under her breath. "He's been really busy lately with various projects to improve Lothal's infrastructure."

"Oh, okay. Hey, maybe we could go visit him," the young man suggested to his group.

"Hey, why not?" Yvette replied with a smile, one of the first since the destruction of Hosnian Prime. "We'll get to see the city, after all."

"Okay, might as well," Glaucon responded. "It's been over a week since I went and worked out so maybe I can go to a gym while I'm there."

"You work out?" Mara asked in surprise. "I'll probably stay here and see if I can get ahold of Karrde, or if not him, then someone else in the Smuggler's Alliance."

"That works," Glaucon said, heading toward the door.

"You want to come too, mom?" Elkanah asked Sabine.

After a brief pause she shrugged. "Sure, why not. I haven't visited your dad in his office in a while."

Sabine's speeder cruised along the highway leading into Lothal City, passing past the numerous streetlights that dotted its landscape at hundreds of kilometers an hour. While she drove, Elkanah took in the sights, glancing at all the fields that he remembered from his childhood.

Needless to say, different memories went through Sabine's head, ones of guerrilla warfare against an oppressive regime. She glanced at all the spots she remembered facing off against everything from imperial probe droids to inquisitors and felt glad that those days were behind her.

Yvette just took in the sights of fields that she had never seen in person before, allowing the vastness to fill her with awe. She realized that after thirty years, Lothal had healed, so maybe she could heal too, though she didn't know how long it would take.

Glaucon didn't really take in the sights that much since he had seen it all before, preferring to meditate instead. It was at about then that he realized they were being followed. He opened his eyes and used the force to feel the person behind them, approaching them in their speeder. The person backed off, showing him that they were at least force-sensitive enough to sense him sensing them.

"Okay, everybody, you're going to have to be cautious. I think someone was following us," he told the group, glancing back. The other vehicle was barely in sight range now. "Someone Force-sensitive."

"Oh great, don't tell me it's another Knight of Ren like last time," Yvette guessed.

"I don't know and I don't want to find out," the bigger man said, glancing back toward the other speeder. "Keep watch out for anybody suspicious."

"So, you're Force-sensitive?" Sabine realized.

"Yeah, but that's not really that important at the moment."

"You better not end up putting any of my family in danger just by being here," the middle-aged woman warned him.

"I'm not," Glaucon replied. "None of these guys should even know about me since I've tried to keep a low profile. Even then, I don't even know why the Knights of Ren would even care about me. According to any sort of official records, I'm just a second-rate Jedi dropout."

"But you're not," Yvette realized. "When you took Mara into your room, you cured the witch and made her young." The dark-skinned girl chuckled. "I bet you didn't think I'd notice that the wrinkles around her eyes were gone."

"Even the Jedi didn't know about that power when I trained with them," Glaucon informed her, continuing to track their mysterious stalker.

A part of Elkanah wanted to ask Glaucon if he would eventually teach him how to heal, but he didn't want to reveal that piece of info to his mother just yet. The woman just kept on driving, her expression serious.

"Okay, here's the gym," Sabine informed Glaucon as she dropped him off.

"Thank you very much for doing this," the big man told her.

"No problem," the middle-aged woman said. "I come here a lot myself. It's right down the street from the gallery where I display some of my works."

Glaucon climbed out of the vehicle. "I'll have to check those out sometime," he told her.

"Maybe if we have time," she replied with a smile. "See you in a couple of hours."

Glaucon nodded. "Okay, bye," he said with a grin of his own, shutting the door.

Then Sabine drove off, her expression serious again. "Elkanah, did Glaucon ever teach you anything involving the Force?" she asked.

"What? Why?" he asked her. "And how would you even know if I'm Force-sensitive?"

"Your father has known all your life. You had to have gotten it from somewhere and you got it from him," she informed him, her almond eyes narrowed. "Now, tell me."

"Dad's Force-sensitive?" Elkanah asked, slightly mortified by the secret that has been kept from him all his life. "How come he didn't teach me anything?"

"Elkanah, both you and your sister Peninnah are Force-sensitive. Your father hasn't taught you anything because…"

"Why mom?" Elkanah asked, annoyed that his mother would drop this bombshell.

"He wanted to protect you. He was told that you have some sort of destiny ahead of you or something. But your father… well… he almost fell to the Dark Side all those years ago when we came across someone named Darth Maul, a Sith Lord."

"What? You guys ran into a Sith Lord?" Yvette asked in sheer disbelief. "No wonder you didn't want to train Elkanah."

The young man gritted his teeth. "Couldn't you have done anything else? It's not like I could fall to the Dark Side like dad almost did."

"Elkanah, there is always a chance you could end up falling to the Dark Side," his mother told him. "When you were just a few years old, Luke Skywalker even came by and offered to have you trained to be a Jedi. Your father absolutely didn't want that to happen and seeing what happened just a few years later when the Knights of Ren attacked, ours was the right decision."

"No way, you met Luke Skywalker," Elkanah said in sheer shock. He wasn't happy with his parents to say the least and he would have jumped at the chance to train with the legendary Jedi who fought Darth Vader, but knowing what had happened… He had to admit that his parents had made the right choice in the long run.

"We've met him a few times over the years, though not after the destruction of his Jedi Order. Nobody knows where he is these days." Sabine looked wistfully as she parked the speeder in the parking garage accompanying the office building where Elkanah's father worked. "Well, we're here," she said with an uneasy smile.

"You know, even though I wish dad would have taught me _something_ , I'm just glad to be alive," he told his parents.

"I'm… really happy you're alive too, Elkanah," Sabine told him just before feeling him grab her in a hug as some tears flowed down his face and hers too. Yvette felt like crying too and she eventually gave in, wishing her own parents were around along with her sister Korr, wishing none of them had to die.

After getting dropped off, Glaucon tried masking his force signature as much as he could, but he just could not shake off his pursuer, so he made his way to the gym's locker room for human and near-human men, took off his shirt, went to the bathroom and shaved off his beard using his personal all-tool which contained an electric shaver, hoping that seeing his baby-faced look would throw off whoever was pursuing him in case they were looking for him.

He then took off his pants, revealing his gym shorts, and put his undershirt on. He then made his way out to the weight-training, working on his strength next to a rather bulky red-skinned Zeltron. He knew that the man couldn't be the force-sensitive since he couldn't sense any emanations of the Force coming from him.

Glaucon did a few exercises and then sensed his pursuer coming through the door. From what he could sense, he could tell that the person wasn't wearing a hood with a mask and he didn't feel any sense of cold from them, so they weren't a Knight of Ren. That is unless they were undercover.

The big man took a deep breath as he put the weights back on the shelf, looking into a nearby mirror to covertly gaze across the gym. The pursuer had apparently performed a Jedi mind-trick on the poor girl at the front desk to get in for free and was walking toward the locker room that Glaucon was just in. It was as the man was walking across the gym that Glaucon got a good look at him.

The man had long, raven-colored hair and was wearing a black trenchcoat over another black outfit, providing a stark contrast to his pale skin. In addition, there was a familiar cylinder hanging from his waist that was definitely a lightsaber. Due to the black outfit, Glaucon immediately assumed that the man was a Dark Side-user, though he reminded himself not to jump to conclusions, especially since he didn't feel any frigid emanations coming from him. The man could have simply been one of Luke's Jedi who had somehow escaped the purge. Then again, he could have been an Inquisitor.

But Glaucon had to remind himself that the likelihood of that happening was incredibly low since the Inquisitorius had disbanded with the fall of the Empire and Emperor Palpatine's death and lack of leadership to guide them. Most of them died in the oncoming battles though a couple became Imperial warlords. On the other hand, some could have joined the Knights of Ren, though none could have been as young as this man who had just disappeared into the locker room. Of course, he did look to be in his late thirties, early forties, but that was still too young.

Glaucon really had no idea. Thankfully, he had successfully masked himself using the Force, preventing the other man from finding him. It took him long enough. Still, Glaucon wasn't going to take any chances. He hadn't survived that long by rushing headlong into danger, after all. So, he put his dumbbells down, got up and mounted one of the exercise bikes, pulling the map out of his gym shorts and putting it in front of him on the controls for the bike along with his lightsaber. He continued hiding himself from the mysterious interloper and kept his eyes closed while he rode the bike, keeping his senses on the other Force-user.

Glaucon noticed the other man rummaging through the locker room with his senses, but the other man figured out that he was being monitored. That was when Glaucon realized he needed to do something else, so he decided to project himself using the force to fake his presence. The other Force-user came out of the locker room and spotted the projection heading out the front door, faking the door opening and closing in the process. The other man then rushed after the projection.

The bigger man needed to figure out who the other man was, so he continued projecting himself and leading the Force-user down the dark street, throwing the bait.

The man ran down the street after Glaucon, ready to catch him. He needed to get this mission over with and get off this backwards planet. There was no way he was going to stay in Republic space any longer than he had to.

So it utterly surprised him when he found the bearded man sitting in front of a Caf Shop, twiddling his fingers. "Good evening," Glaucon greeted with a smile. "So, what made you decide to stalk me?"

The man in black simply sat down in front of the big, bearded man. "You have something I need, Glaucon," he responded.

"I don't know what you're talking about," the former professor remarked.

"The map, Glaucon," the man in black requested. Glaucon stared at him, his teeth clenched inside his mouth.

"Wow, straight to the point, aren't you?" Glaucon remarked with a smile. "By the way, my name's Glaucon, what's yours?"

"I already know your name, Glaucon," the man responded, more than a little annoyed.

"But I don't know yours," the bigger man responded, leaning back into his chair. "How can you trust me to give you the map if I don't know who you are?"

"Kyp Durron," the man in black answered.

"Good to meet you Kyp, if that is your real name," Glaucon replied. "So, who do you work for? First Order? Are you a Knight of Ren?"

"Well, aren't you forward?" Kyp remarked dryly. "No, the First Order just committed the worst atrocity in recorded history by destroying the Hosnian System. I am glad I'm not affiliated with them, much less the Knights of Ren."

"Then who are you?" Glaucon inquired. "You don't work for the First Order but you're trained in the ways of the Force. Are you one of Luke's Jedi that somehow survived the massacre?

"I've never even met Luke Skywalker," the man in black replied.

"Alright, it seems I'm getting somewhere. Maybe." Glaucon smiled. "So, who do you work for?"

"As if I'm telling you," Kyp replied.

"The Imperial Remnant? Is there a secret cabal of Force-users there?" the big man inquired.

"You are going to give me the map, Glaucon," Kyp told him.

"Why?" Glaucon asked.

"The map is a key. There is data on there, data that that could change the Galaxy forever," Kyp replied.

"Yeah, evidence of an extragalactic incursion," Glaucon responded. "What do you know about this? We have time and you can be patient. Patience is something that people who haven't turned to the dark side should strive to manifest."

Kyp chuckled. "Well, I haven't turned to the dark side," he responded.

"Of course, some who have fallen don't know that they have," Glaucon warned him. "What do you know about what's on the map?"

"Nothing. My superiors told me to get it from you after you received it from a certain Talon Karrde," Kyp replied.

"You're Imperial Remnant," Glaucon deduced. "So much for not being a part of the dark side, since you work for a government that was started by a Sith Lord."

"You figured it out?" Kyp asked.

"Sounds like the Imperial Remnant has a secret group of Force-users," Glaucon realized. "Some sort of Imperial Knights."

Kyp chuckled again. "That's right," he replied. "No one is supposed to know about us, though. And then there's you. You tried training to be a Jedi once and then you were kicked out of the order for being too old once they decided to enact a pretty stupid rule."

"Yeah, that along with the no marrying rule were pretty big turnoffs for me toward the Jedi," the bigger man commented.

"And yet that clues one into how old you are," Kyp responded, causing Glaucon's eyes to widen. "That rule was enacted approximately 400 years ago, Glaucon. You have been keeping yourself alive since then somehow, possibly using some sort of Force healing."

"So, you know?" the heavyset man asked, surprised.

"Surely someone was going to figure out sooner or later," Kyp added. "Listen, I know the First Order was after you on Terminus. I was on the Star Destroyer that engaged the First Order ship there. Our intelligence has indicated that the First Order's supreme leader is positively ancient, so he may be after you for your healing abilities."

"Figures," Glaucon said, sitting further back. "Well, if you'll excuse me, I have to go. It was nice talking to you, Mr. Durron."

"Like I'm letting you leave. The True Empire needs your map."

Glaucon sat up straight. "Well, it's kind of hard not to let me leave when I wasn't even here in the first place." Then he disappeared, leaving an irritated Kyp Durron sitting there at the table, realizing he had been duped.

Still, he needed to track the professor down, so he closed his eyes and reached out with the Force. That was when he detected two Force-users in one of the governmental buildings. He wasn't sure that either of them was Glaucon, but Force-users were exceedingly rare so he figured it was worth the risk.

Glaucon got off the exercise bike, stuffed the lightsaber and the map back into his pockets and made his way to the locker room. He then went to his locker, which, thankfully, Kyp hadn't broken into due to it having a DNA lock on it. He needed to get out of there as quickly as possible and find the others in case the mysterious Force-user was going to go after them

Elkanah reached the doors to his father's office and paused for a second before taking a deep breath. He didn't know what he was about to do or whether he should have been angry with him or happy to see him, so he took a deep breath and made his way through the sliding doors and into the office to see his father at a computer screen.

He took in the sight of the room, noticing the holographic computer on the circular, gray desk and spotting the paintings on the light-blue wall, all done by his mother during their long marriage. But his eyes didn't linger on those things too long, instead moving toward the man seated at the desk.

Ezra had definitely changed over the thirty years since the Battle of Endor, now having a bit of a gut while his hair was and receding. In addition, he kept his graying hair short, far shorter than he ever did when he was a teenager in the old Rebel cell that he was a member of. He and his son were actually the same height, though Elkanah was considerably more muscular.

The man instantly got up, a slight look of shock on his face. "You're actually here."

"Yeah, I made it out alive. I'm home," Elkanah told him, a smile forming on his face. He then ran over to his father and embraced the middle-aged man, allowing the tears to flow freely down his face. His father did the same.

"I'm sorry," the man said. "I'm sorry you went through that."

"Dad, don't be," Elkanah told him. "I made it."

"But…" Ezra backed up. "There's something that you need to do that you haven't done yet. Something I've been putting off for years." Elkanah was more than a little confused. "It's time to train you in the ways of the Force."


End file.
